


Exhibition

by RioRiley



Series: Sketches [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Art, Artists, Badass Rey, Cancer, F/M, Love, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23270188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RioRiley/pseuds/RioRiley
Summary: Ten years later, Rey's art is on display at a gallery and a familiar face shows up to the opening.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Poe Dameron/Rey
Series: Sketches [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670296
Comments: 10
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

Ten years pass. There's a gallery, up in Park City Utah, showing during the Sundance film festival, and they ask Rey to display her work. It's something she never thought was possible. Not that she never thought she would be featured in a gallery, just that she didn't realize she would ever have an opportunity to have so many, really wealthy, people from around the world seeing her work in a matter of days. 

She looks through her studio, that her husband has established for her in the basement of their home, flipping through canvases, trying to figure out what art she wants to display. 

She's known for her portrait work. She gets commissioned thousands of dollars for her art, but as she looks through the paintings, she isn't as sure what she wants to display. Rey has always felt that she puts a piece of her soul in each of her works. She simply isn't sure what piece of her soul she wants to share with these strangers. She's also always felt that the best art exhibitions are the ones that share the most soul. She looks around her studio at her favorite pieces, the ones she has hung on her walls. 

She looks at the paintings that line the wall above her desk. Paintings of each of her children are hung in a row. The first, of her oldest, a daughter, when she was a newborn. At the time her daughter was only a few days old. Rey loved watching her sleep. Hearing the little squeaks she made in her sleep, and the smiles she would make in her sleep whenever she farted. Rey didn't want to forget what she looked like when she was so little. Rio is six years old now.

Her son, Milo, his portrait is next to the one of her oldest daughter. He was a little older, when Rey painted him. About a year old. His portrait shows him playing with blocks. The blocks look huge in his tiny chubby hands. Now, her son is four. He plays little league soccer. He loves it. Rey couldn't be more proud of him as she sits on the sidelines each spring day watching him score. 

The third painting, is of her youngest daughter Olivia. Of Rey, holding her tiny, frail hand. Olivia's finger is gripped around Rey's, in a way it never really did in her short life. Everyone around her used to say she was born sleeping. That's preposterous though. Saying she was sleeping gives off the possibility of waking her up. You can wake up sleeping people. She was born dead. Plain and simple. The baby was small. Her husband was heartbroken. And there wasn't much that brought her peace. But then her husband, Poe, mentioned that even though they couldn't raise their daughter, that he was willing to bet that Ben would raise her for them up in heaven. 

Poe is amazing. Rey met him about a year after Ben passed away. They met on a warm afternoon. Rey had been at the aquarium. She used to go there to feel peace. She used to go, and sit in front of the octopus tank, and just sketch the octopus as is moved. On that day, she went to her normal place in front of the tank to find Poe there, taking photo after photo of the octopus. He's a photographer.

The first time Rey told Poe about Ben, she sobbed. She sat and cried. They had been officially dating about two months when she broke down and told him. They'd been at his apartment, and he turned on a romance movie, and the male charecter didn't even slightly resemble Ben. But he made one similar facial expression, and then Rey lost it.

Poe, talks about Ben the way most people talk about God. He talks about him only in reverent tones. He asks Rey questions about him. He loves hearing her memories of him. She shares them with Poe on the anniversary of Ben's death each year. They go to the cemetery every year. Rey tells him about Ben. She tells him about all the best times.

When Rey and Poe got married, Poe thanked Ben in his wedding vows. He thanked him for teaching Rey how to love. He thanked him for being her first love. He thanked him for keeping her safe, and leading her to him.

There's a painting up there of her and Poe dancing on their wedding night. Rey's dress was right, and white. With long sleeves, and fitting around her waist, and her ass. They danced to a beautiful cover of "What a Wonderful World." In the painting, they are dancing. Her head is laying in his shoulder. His hands are around the small of her back. 

Rey grabs all the paintings off her wall, and loads them into her car to bring to the gallery to install her display. She and her family live in Salt Lake City. 

On the night of the gallery opening, she and Poe get dressed to the nines. They drive up the canyon. It's a long drive, especially in the snow. But the roads aren't bad, and neither is traffic. 

They pull up to the gallery, Poe gets out first, and opens Rey's door. They walk into the gallery hand in hand, and walk around. Rey greets the patrons at the gallery. She answers their questions about her technique. She and Poe walk by her pieces. They stop at the final piece in her collection, a piece completed ten years prior. it is displayed on it's own wall, next to a vase of red roses.

A man comes up to Rey, and places his hand on the back of her shoulder. She turns around quickly, startled by the unexpected human contact. The man standing in front of her is older than she remembers him being. But as time passes for her, time passes for him.

"Hey Kid." Han says through a sad but proud smile, accompanied by tired eyes. Rey hugs him. "Ben would be so proud of you." 

"He is proud." Poe says, kissing Rey's forehead. "So am i."

There's a display, at the front of the exhibit, with Rey's artist statement printed in a large clean font.

My name is Rey Dameron. I have always believed that life is full of perfect moments. Moments that are so perfect that all I can do to remember them is immortalize them on canvas. Life is full of beautiful moments made to be shared with beautiful people. Some of these beautiful people don't get to stay in our lives for nearly as long as we hope they will. My first love, lost his life to cancer when I was in art school. My youngest daughter lost her life before it even began. Those moments were the hardest of my life. But there have been beautiful moments since, and there will continue to be spectacular moments. Life is tough. But so are you. Look for the beautiful moments. Remember them. Look for the moments worth remembering even when life is at it's hardest. Put them on canvas. And look at them. Remember the beauty. But remember those hard moments too. The hard moments are what make all the other moments worth painting.


	2. Note

Hey! So I'm in college, and I've written an actual book. Like paper. Physical copy book. I have lived writing on Ao3, and I owe the world to my people here who have read the things I have written. It means the world.

Check out my book:   
https://www.blurb.com/b/10367532-sicker

**Author's Note:**

> Still broke as ever. Thriving off comments.


End file.
